Check your diet pill labels and compare the brand names and ingredients to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's list of warnings. Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA, says many tainted weight loss products endanger public health. Some contain undeclared prescription drugs in amounts above maximum recommended dosages, and other toxic, unknown and unlisted substances. The words "natural" and "herbal" can disguise poisonous chemicals.
Stimulants
You risk side effects like palpitations, headaches, chest pain, high blood pressure and insomnia, and sometimes more serious outcomes like heart attacks, strokes and sudden death, when you ignore FDA warnings about stimulants in some diet pills. They are sold online, in retail stores and beauty parlors under many brand names. Look for Ephedra, MaHuang or Ephedra sinica, banned by the FDA since 1994. These names indicate ephedrine, a powerful cardiac stimulant. Also, a controlled drug called sibutramine with powerful amphetamine-like stimulant properties is sometimes added to diet pills without labeling. An October, 2009 FDA warning lists these and other banned diet pills.
Caffeine, the worlds most popular stimulant, is legal and generally considered safe. The FDA warns against hidden or substantial caffeine doses in some diet pills. Guarana, or kola nut, is an herb with up to three times the caffeine as coffee. Excessive stimulation by caffeine risks uncontrolled cardiac, blood pressure and neurological effects.
Diuretics
A 2008 FDA diet pill warning added 41 diet pill brands to its previous list of 28. Many of the new warnings expanded on the list of pills which contain bumetanide and other diuretics, or water pills. You can lose weight by passing large amounts of water, but you can imbalance your electrolytes in the process. Diuretic-induced dehydration is dangerous. Water loss is not fat loss, so the pill's effects are only temporary. Bumetanide is available as a prescription for specific medical uses under controlled conditions; However in many OTC diet pills the dosage is not specifically monitored or reported. Never use diet pills without your doctor's knowledge.
Psychoactives
The FDA warns that many diet pills are imported, and contain unlabelled and unregulated psychoactive drugs. Prozac, anti-anxiety drugs and some related substances which are not approved in the United States, have also been found. The 2008 FDA warning describes rimonastat, found in some pills, as a psychoactive drug linked to suicides and adverse psychological and physical reactions in Europe. "Consumer Reports Magazine," in a 2009 report, warns that phentoin, an anti-seizure medication, is another inappropriate drug in some diet pills. Avoid all diet pills not prescribed for you by a trained health care professional.
Toxins
In 2001 the FDA warned against three types of diet drugs which can damage your liver: LipoKinetix, Lipang-4 and some red rice yeast formulations. These are marketed to help protect against fat in your diet. Red rice yeast can contain lovastatin, a prescription cholesterol-lowering drug, which can interfere with other cholesterol drugs you are already taking. The 2008 FDA warning also cautions against pills containing phenolphthalein which is a suspected carcinogen. Eat a well balanced diet and exercise away more calories than you eat. That is still your doctor's best diet prescription.
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